


Privacy

by a_la_grecque



Category: Crystal Singer Trilogy - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2014-10-24
Packaged: 2018-02-22 11:48:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2506718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_la_grecque/pseuds/a_la_grecque
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for the requesting this canon and giving me the opportunity to play in a new sandbox. It took a few twists and turns and isn't quite what I was expecting to write when I started, but I hope it hits at least a few of the things you wanted in your prompt. </p><p>Trick or treat? I guess it's a little bit of both.<br/>Happy Halloween!</p></blockquote>





	Privacy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [effpeeks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/effpeeks/gifts).



Killa shook her head wearily. All the restoratives provided by the Heptite Guild might soothe her aching muscles but there was nothing that could ease the strain of information overload. Several days living in close quarters with the others was also adding to her tension. Even the addition of several glasses of a good brew couldn’t totally dissipate it. Playing the sociable role wasn’t always easy, she almost envied Carigana’s total disregard for not just her class, but the entire Heptite Guild. 

She yawned widely, and Rimbol smiled affably and raised his eyebrows. His intentions were clear, but she didn’t want his easy affections tonight. She tried to catch Jezerey’s eye, but the other woman was deep in conversation with Borton and Shillawn. She would just have to leave early without an alibi this time. 

She set off back to her quarters, and just glimpsed a sudden switch from red to green as she walked past Carigana’s room, before the door whisked open. Full of confidence and Yarran beer, she turned around. 

Carigana was dressed for sleep, the deep tan on her face contrasting sharply with the pale skin on the rest of her body. 

“I knew it would be you,” she said. “I’ve seen you watching me.” 

“You… remind me of someone.” 

Carigana laughed. “Yourself, perhaps? You’re not like the others either, are you?” 

Killa didn’t answer. 

Carigana stepped to the side and raised her arm, as clear an invitation as Killa was ever going to get. 

She stepped into the spacer’s quarters, unsurprised to find that they were much the same as her own and Rimbol’s. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but of all the options she had in mind, the kiss wasn’t high on the list. 

She exhaled sharply as Carigana’s lips sought out her own, but the surprise was a pleasant one. Carigana pulled her down onto the bed, and Killa quickly discovered that not all of her movements were clumsy and lacking finesse. 

Her movements had purpose without being forceful, and her quick fingers soon had Killa gasping. She’d learned to use her mouth for more than just singing on Fuerte, and was confident she’d be able to return the favour. She kissed her way down Carigana’s lean body, feeling the tension in her build and rise. 

She smiled slightly, but there were no tell-tale quivers in Carigana’s limbs; she grew more rigid the longer Killa’s attentions continued, her back arching off the bed and her face contorted. 

“You need to relax,” Killa growled, “Just let go.”

The release, when it came, was sudden and explosive, Carigana’s limbs went into spasm and she reached for a pillow to muffle her groans. Even though she prided herself on her skills in the bedroom, Killa wasn’t sure she’d ever had that effect on anyone before. _What next?_ She couldn’t imagine a night of muttered revelations spent in each other’s arms, so it was no surprise at all really when she heard Carigana breathlessly whispering.

“I’d like privacy. Please.” 

Killa gathered herself and headed back to her own quarters, mercifully without encountering anyone else. She fell into her own bed and knew nothing more until she was woken by the soft beeping of the catering unit the next morning.

After that night Carigana's door was set permanently to the unblinking red of privacy, until the surly spacer was transferred to the infirmary. 

Killa wasn't really sure why it was she felt so compelled to track what was allegedly 'satisfactory' progress, even though all the lines were trending downwards. 

Whenever she closed her eyes in the sterile stillness of the hospital room she swore she could hear crystal, singing over the quiet hum of the lights, thrumming in her bloodstream. There was something irrevocable in that commitment, the type of union she'd always shied away from. She knew she would never be free of it even as it made her ache with pleasure. 

In her darker moments, when sleep deserted her and she'd lost all track of time her mind would take her back to the twisted horrors she'd seen in disclosure, the madness on their faces. Could she be driven to that extreme of despair and desperation? The reassurance that the Heptite Guild would take care of her, in whatever capacity she needed, was no reassurance at all. She might not be taken totally by surprise by storms and crashing crystal resonance like those first foolhardy explorers, but remembering Carrik's collapse showed her there were new, if more mundane, dangers to worry about. It made the hairs on the back of her arms stand up just to think about it.

As she drifted down into sleep she would see herself, deep in the Ranges, singing and singing to the crystal that was calling her, even now through all the shielding of the Guild headquarters. It had her in thrall, and when she tried to resist she could feel her voice starting to splinter and crack as the crystal hardened and grew in her blood. She'd wake up gasping and choking and fumbling for reassurance from her newly heightened senses. 

It was after one of those dreams that she found out that Carigana's condition was anything but 'satisfactory', and those steady downward lines had become wild and erratic. 

She could never admit to herself whether it was that lingering sense of fear, or merely her years of theatrical training, that caused her to make her dramatic entrance, stage right and scatter the meditechs and their machines as she reached for Carigana's hand and whispered confidently “You have to surrender.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for the requesting this canon and giving me the opportunity to play in a new sandbox. It took a few twists and turns and isn't quite what I was expecting to write when I started, but I hope it hits at least a few of the things you wanted in your prompt. 
> 
> Trick or treat? I guess it's a little bit of both.  
> Happy Halloween!


End file.
